The legendary krautrockers that make up the band Faust are being pulled straight from the pages of myth for a performance as part of Mission Creek at Gabe’s, 330 E. Washington St., at 8 p.m. today, marking the group’s first — and potentially only — performance in Iowa.
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Originally coined a joke and rejected by artists, “krautrock” is a genre of rock and electronic music from Germany in the late-1960s and early ’70s. Largely experimental, it features traits of psychedelic rock, prog rock, and classical music. Krautrock artists contributed in no small part to the evolution of electronic music and the birth of alternative rock.
Record producer Uwe Nettelbeck conceived Faust in 1971 in Wümme, Germany, with the founding lineup of Hans Joachim Irmler, Jean Hervé Péron, Werner “Zappi” Diermaier, Rudolf Sosna, Gunther Wusthoff, and Armulf Meifert.
Months after coming together, Faust recorded its first album in an old schoolhouse turned record studio. Its self-titled début sold infamously poorly, but its inventive approach earned the group a cult following.
Faust followed up its commercially unsuccessful début with the much more accessible So Far. After another moderately successful album and a flop, the group was inactive for 15 years, resurfacing and playing a few European shows in the early ’90s with a slimmed down lineup of Irmler, Péron, and Diermaier. The group made its U.S. début in 1993 backing American born avant-garde artist Tony Conrad.
The trio released several live records and two new studio albums until 1997 saw the lineup shaken up once again with Péron’s temporary departure. Undeterred, Faust continued in one form or another well into the 2000s, releasing five studio albums.
Its latest, 2014’s J US t (pronounced “just us”), features 12 tracks recorded by Péron and Diermaier. J US t sees Faust going in yet another new direction.
The album is a collection of minimalistic offerings that defy categorization. Diermaier and Péron are true to form, expanding on their usual percussion and bass roles with a variety of other sounds. String instruments, pianos, even a sewing machine find their place among the chaos.
Each track has plenty of space, revealing Diermaier and Péron’s true intentions for the album: collaboration. The tracks are purposefully barebones in order to allow other artists to use Faust’s framework to build something of their own.
— by Adam Buhck